Rigid plastic containers are in common use for household products. Food products such as soda, milk, fruit juice, syrup, peanut butter, salad dressing, mayonnaise and other food products are commonly packaged in rigid plastic containers. Rigid plastic containers also find wide use in packaging of other household products such as soap, bleach, starch, motor oil and so forth and in the packaging of cosmetics such as shampoos, hair conditioners, skin lotions and the like.
In order to provide a suitable packaging for the many commodities purchased by the general public, a plastic container must be sufficiently rigid to be handled on conventional high speed filling and capping lines and to be handled during shipment and by the ultimate consumer during use. If the product is under pressure as in the case of carbonated beverages, it must be sufficiently strong to contain the product.
Rigid plastic containers which meet the demands of suitable packaging present a serious disposal problem because they cannot be easily densified for disposal or for recycling. Some of the bottles found in trash are capped such that they cannot be compressed with a baler and when they are ground in an ordinary shredder tend to bounce out of the machine or deform sufficiently to pass through the mill without being reduced.
In view of the above, there is a need for an effective machine for densifying rigid plastic containers. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide such a machine. Other objects and features of the invention will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the constructions hereinafter described and their equivalents, the scope of the invention being indicated in the following claims.